Welcome Letter

Thank you for meeting with ______________________________________________________________

And for your enquiry about ______________________________________________________________

We aim to provide continuity of midwifery care for you and your family throughout your journey, but you can come to us at any time for extra support, advice or education, whatever you need, we can provide.

Our antenatal and postnatal services are medicare rebatable and can be charged at the normal home visit rate, a rebate only rate, or a bulk bill rate according to your personal circumstances, and where you have chosen to have your appointments with us: at a local clinic or at home.

Birth fees are generally set, because there are as yet, no medicare rebates obtainable for birth, since private/eligible midwives still do not have access to insurance for birth.

Birth support, for hospital or homebirth, means that your primary midwife and her partner/team, are on call for you throughout your pregnancy, during the birth and in the postnatal period.

Please see fee schedule for our service provided.

Further documentation and how to claim your medicare rebates will be explained to you at your first appointment, or on your first contact with us.

However, to be able to claim for the medicare rebate we need you to get a referral letter signed from a local GP/Obstetrician, or a Consultant Obstetrician, if you have booked for private or public care at your local hospital. Please talk to us first if you are unsure about the options, and we will find you someone who is used to our service and who understands what you require.

We may need to refer to these medical practitioners, or your hospital consultant during your pregnancy, so part of our discussion will be to identify which practitioners you wish your primary midwife to consult with if there is a need.

During your pregnancy your primary midwife will see you every 4 weeks from 8-12 weeks of pregnancy, every 2 weeks from 32 weeks, and weekly from 38-39 weeks until your delivery, or induction, which maybe up until 42 weeks. This is about 11 visits in total, but you will also have your booked hospital visits to attend depending on your birth option.

All our homebirth mothers are encouraged to book in to a hospital as a backup plan, and have at least 2 or 3 key appointments so that the hospital can be kept fully informed of your progress, you are comfortable with the staff, and know your hospital and are aware of its policies in case of transfer during the birth process.

This makes your birth experience reassuring and ensures a smooth transfer of care without confusion or time wasted on unnecessary administration.

Postnatal care can commence as soon as you have had the baby (homebirth), and after your schedule hospital home visits are complete, most hospitals on the public system will give you x1 or 2 home visits and then you are on your own. Private hospitals often have no planned home visiting program, so we are happy to fill in this void, as this is an important time in learning to parent, and advice and education with breastfeeding and general care can be invaluable at this key stage.

Our postnatal visits can last up to 6 weeks after the birth of your baby, are all medicare rebatable, and you get almost all your money back, the rebates during this period being the most cost effective of them all, and if you have gone over the “medicare safety net” in your pregnancy, you will be very little out of pocket. Please let us explain to you at your first appointment how the medicare safety net works.